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Region plans for future transportation spending
COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS TAKE PLACE OCT. 13-29

MARC has begun an 18-month process to develop a new long-range transportation plan for the Kansas City region — Transportation Outlook 2040. The plan will budget federal transportation funds that the region expects to receive over the next three decades. What should our priorities be?

Community discussions have been scheduled around the region beginning Oct. 13 to encourage residents to share hopes and desires for the region’s transportation system and how the region ought to develop over the next 30 years. Refreshments will be provided.

All meetings will be held from 6–8 pm. at the following locations (bus service details):

• October 13: Kansas City Baptist Temple, 5460 Blue Ridge Cut-Off, Kansas City, Mo.
• October 14: Kansas City Kansas Public Library – West, 1737 N. 82nd St., Kansas City, Kan.
• October 16: Kansas City Public Library – Plaza Branch, Lower Level, 4801 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.
• October 23: Sylvester Powell, Jr., Community Center, 6200 Martway, Mission, Kan.
• October 29: Gladstone Community Center, 6901 N. Holmes, Gladstone, Mo.

Transportation Outlook 2040 will establish a regional vision for long-range transportation investment, develop policies and strategies to implement the vision, and identify regionally significant projects that support it. It will guide planners, elected officials and agencies in making investments in all types of transportation over the coming 30-year period.

The Long-Range Transportation Plan Subcommittee met on Sept. 23 to begin discussing how to approach developing a new plan, and incorporating transportation, equity, and environmental and growth concerns.

Throughout the process, MARC staff will solicit feedback from existing committees that deal with various modes of transportation, from the general public, and from other external stakeholders. They will help evaluate past transportation planning work and identify regional issues, goals and potential responses.

Some of the challenges the region faces include uncertainty about future local, state and federal funding sources; increasing transportation needs; and a growing list of issues to take into consideration, such as energy and the environment, land use and economic development. But there are promising opportunities as well. Through developing a new plan, MARC can gain a better understanding of the desired regional future and transportation’s role; form a stronger connection to local land-use plans and community objectives; improve integration of environmental priorities; and better link planning to programming funds for transportation projects.

Join the Transportation Outlook 2040 mailing list to receive news and events about the project.

For more information, contact Tom Gerend.

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Imagine KC kickoff event Oct. 11 at MARC

What should Greater Kansas City look like in 30 years? Community members and local leaders will have a chance to answer that question and share their ideas about our region's future starting Oct. 11.

This Saturday the kickoff event for a seven-month-long community engagement project called Imagine KC, will take place. Imagine KC will culminate with a live community forum broadcast on Kansas City Public Television (KCPT) on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.

The project will focus on how our region constructs (builds structures), connects (provides transportation services and infrastructure) and consumes (uses resources). The intent is to help citizens shape how local governments, planners, developers and other community leaders make decisions — as well as empower individuals to take action at the community level.

Imagine KC is a partnership among the Mid-America Regional Council, One KC Voice, Bridging the Gap, Regional Transit Alliance, the University of Kansas and KCPT.

Register for Imagine KC or learn more

For more information, contact Dan Cash.

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External station survey yields useful travel data and top destinations in Kansas City region

A recently completed external station survey reveals that more than 130,000 vehicles and 200,000 people enter the region on a typical weekday (excluding commercial trucks), most of whom do not live within MARC’s planning boundary. Details about where travelers come from and where they are headed in the Kansas City area will help planners map travel patterns, project economic impacts, and identify where future transportation improvements are needed.

Over the last few years, MARC has collected information on the travel behaviors of the region’s population through a series of surveys. In 2007 and 2008, MARC conducted an external station survey to look at travel coming into and leaving the region. This new data will be used with year 2000 federal census data and recent household and on-board transit surveys to update the region’s travel-demand model, which helps planners provide better travel forecasts for the Kansas City metro area.

MARC last conducted an external survey in 1973. The project was funded by MARC, the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Missouri Department of Transportation, and was conducted by ETC Institute.

The primary focus of the external station survey was to capture information on traffic volumes, origin-destination travel patterns, trip frequency and travel mode of vehicles that crossed a set of stations located on major highways around the region. The survey targeted trips made by people who live outside MARC’s planning boundary but travel here, and the consultant simulated traffic flow projections by geocoding origin and destination points. The data obtained will help planners understand the impact of this external travel on the region’s transportation needs.

The largest numbers of travelers are coming from Douglas and Miami counties in Kansas, and Johnson County in Missouri. The major reasons people report traveling to the region are for work (37 percent) and to shop (15 percent). The top destinations of vehicles traveling to the region are the Kansas Speedway/Village West area in western Wyandotte County, downtown Kansas City, Mo., and the Overland Park/Leawood area in Johnson County. Planners can even determine the top destinations for vehicles entering the region via each of the highways surveyed.

There is a wide variety of potential uses for the survey data, including updating regional transportation models, projecting economic impacts, and identifying future transportation improvements needed in the region. A final report will be completed and posted online later in October.

External Station Survey results (presented to Total Transportation Policy Committee in September)

For more information, contact Charles Gorugantula.

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Coordinated traffic signal systems like Operation Green Light reap rewards

Across the nation, traffic signal systems are starting to attract attention. As budgets to expand streets and highways shrink, state and local governments are working to improve operation of existing transportation networks. The Operation Green Light initiative provides 21 jurisdictions in the Kansas City area a way to keep signal technology and traffic engineering current and monitored.

MARC is coordinating Operation Green Light, which aims to improve the synchronization of traffic signals and incident response on major routes across jurisdictions in the metro area. This is accomplished by using regional wireless communication and a software system that can track how a signal is performing. It has taken several years of cooperative planning to coordinate, upgrade equipment and install new technology to operate the system.

Phase 1 provides new communication equipment, replaces some signal controllers, supplies traffic signal coordination software, and develops and installs new timing plans on a network of approximately 600 intersections across the region. Later phases will include a dedicated fiber optic communications system, a traffic operations center, and an expansion to approximately 1,500 intersections.

Traffic signals have an impact on the everyday lives of the traveling public. Improperly timed traffic signals contribute to increased travel delays, wasted fuel and increased pollution from vehicle emissions. Poorly timed traffic signals accounts for five to 10 percent of all traffic delay, according to the National Transportation Operations Coalition. Cities, counties and states can reap large rewards — such as decreased congestion and less fuel consumption — by making small changes in the way they manage and operate their traffic signal systems.

RESULTS SO FAR
Operation Green Light’s regional wireless and fiber optic communications system gives analysts access to signals in real time. Of the 633 signals that are part of Phase 1, more than 70 percent are online and over 63 percent have new timing plans during peak travel periods. Benefits in specific corridors have resulted in:

• Over 44 percent increase in speeds
• 21 percent decrease in travel times
• 18 percent reduction in fuel consumption
• 15 percent decrease in emissions

The Operation Green Light system notifies analysts immediately of any problems at the intersections, such as a system outage, flashing lights or pedestrian crossing malfunctions. Now analysts can manage many problems in real time from a computer rather than waiting for a citizen complaint and a technician to arrive at the site to make repairs. Some intersections have cameras that allow analysts to see what’s happening and be able to respond.

Operation Green Light is unique in being the only project in the nation of its size, involving 21 jurisdictions in two states.

For more information, contact Ray Webb or Ron Achelpohl.

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Communities form coalition to protect Rock Island Railroad corridor for future trail, transit use

Local officials are working to preserve the old Rock Island Railroad corridor from Pleasant Hill to the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Mo., for trail use and to provide a regional connection to the Missouri Katy Trail State Park in Windsor, Mo.

MARC is helping communities along the corridor form a coalition to demonstrate community support for protection of the corridor for future trail and transit use. Greenwood, Kansas City, Mo., Lee’s Summit, Pleasant Hill, Raytown, and Cass and Jackson counties are working with owner Union Pacific Railroad about the corridor’s preservation for alternative transportation use. The potential for the corridor to be available for light rail or other transit services in the future has been identified in Smart Moves community meetings.

The state of Missouri has reached an agreement with utility company AmerenUE as part of the Taum Sauk Reservoir disaster settlement to complete the Missouri Katy Trail State Park connection to the Kansas City area. The trail will be built to the side of the rail bed. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources hopes to have a portion of the trail completed by 2011 and all of it completed by 2013.

The state has begun surveying work and is contacting adjacent property owners along the 40-mile stretch of rail corridor. MARC has looked at the railroad alignment from Pleasant Hill to the stadiums. The corridor hasn’t been used for rail for several decades by its owner, Union Pacific Railroad.

For more information, contact Marlene Nagel at MARC or Kevin Bolling with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources at 816/759-7313.

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Transportation Improvement Program fourth quarter amendment released for public comment

The Total Transportation Policy Committee has released the fourth quarter amendment to the 2008–2012 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for public review and comment. Public comments will be accepted through Oct. 13.

The TIP documents how the Greater Kansas City area will prioritize the limited transportation resources available to meet the needs of the region. The TIP contains priority surface transportation projects that are planned to receive federal, state and local funding within the metro area, and will be carried out in the next five years.

The proposed amendment would add 18 new projects and modify 12 existing projects in the region.

• Review document: www.marc.org/transportation/tip/amendments/08Q4amend.pdf
• Input deadline: Monday, Oct. 13, 2008
• How to submit input: By e-mail to tip@marc.org; by fax to 816/421-7758; by phone to 816/474-4240; by mail to 600 Broadway, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 64105.
• Action taken: The proposed amendment will be discussed at the Total Transportation Policy Committee meeting at MARC at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 21.

For more information, contact Marc Hansen.

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Area schools joined students across the globe for International Walk to School Day Oct. 8

Each year, the Mid-America Regional Council encourages local schools to celebrate International Walk to School Day (IWALK). On Oct. 8, students, educators, families and neighbors throughout the Greater Kansas City area joined others around the world in promoting the benefits of walking or biking to school, including healthy lifestyles, strong communities and a cleaner environment. This year, more than 40 area schools participated in promoting more active lifestyles for children and exploring ways for communities to encourage walking to school.

SNAPSHOT OF “WALK-TO SCHOOL" AREA EVENTS:

• Roesland Elementary School and St. Agnes Elementary School
  Congressman Dennis Moore joined hundreds of students to walk from the Roeland Park, Kan., city hall to Roesland Elementary and on to St. Agnes. Other activities included breakfast at city hall.
  
  
• St. Peter’s Catholic School
  St. Peter’s School distributed safety stickers and sponsored an on-site raffle with prizes for students. Staging posts were located along the walking route, with crossing guards present to ensure student safety.
  
  
• Langston Hughes Elementary School
  This school was recently approved for a crossing guard at a busy intersection. This has opened up opportunities for many new walkers and bike riders. The school’s Site Council has been active in making the walk to school safe for all students.
  
  
• Sunset Hill Elementary School
  This annual event hosted over 500 participants. The school provided free breakfast sponsored by food services.
  
  
• Franklin Elementary School
  Franklin Elementary School celebrated by encouraging children to walk or bike (via the school newsletter and e-mail) and hosting a gala reception at the school's front entrance complete with snacks.
  
  
• Alexander Doniphan Elementary School
  Kids who attended a school walking club received a "foot token." All walkers on Oct. 8 received free prizes and a coupon for $1 off admission to the Fairy Tale Forest at Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary on Oct. 26. They could enter a drawing for a $25 gift certificate and an eco-friendly, long-lasting reusable shopping bag made from recycled plastic soda bottles.

Students, parents and some teachers from these schools participated in IWALK on Oct. 8:

For more information, contact Aaron Bartlett.

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Missouri MPO conference brought together planning organizations

Missouri held its first conference in years for all metropolitan planning organizations in the state on Sept. 24 and 25 in Jefferson City. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) took the lead in organizing the conference, assisted by MARC's Transportation Director, Mell Henderson, who also served as a moderator.

At the conference, the seven MPO agencies, including MARC, shared details about major projects they are working on. MoDOT presented information about future transportation funding, the "Conversation with Missouri" future priorities, and its statewide environmental review process. Federal agency representatives presented information on new regulations and technical resources.

The MPO conference also included a facilitated discussion to identify ways to improve communication, cooperation and collaboration among the agencies attending. Also available was a walking tour of redevelopment planned on the grounds of the former Missouri State Penitentiary, which was decommissioned in 2004.

A series of quarterly topical meetings is being planned. Attendees expressed interest in making the conference an annual event.

For more information, contact Mell Henderson.

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